A plane carrying First Lady Melania Trump was forced to return to Joint Base Andrews Wednesday after smoke filled the cabin. Trump’s spokeswoman said everyone is safe after the aircraft landed. (Oct. 17)
AP

Corrections and Clarifications: An earlier version of this story mentioned the wrong date. The incident occurred on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON – After experiencing a "mechanical issue" aboard her first flight, first lady Melania Trump arrived in Philadelphia on Wednesday. Her original plane, which a pool report identified as a Boeing C-32A, had to make a sudden return to Joint Base Andrews earlier in the morning.

Trump's rep, Stephanie Grisham, confirmed to USA TODAY there was a "minor mechanical issue" on the plane. Grisham added: "Everything is fine and everyone is safe."

About 15 minutes into the flight, smoke was visible and a burning scent detectable inside the plane, according to a pool report. A staffer for the first lady then announced the plane had encountered a “mechanical problem” and would return to Joint Base Andrews, the report continued.

Damp washcloths were given to passengers to combat the smell and the plane touched down shortly after 9 a.m., per the report.

President Trump said he spoke with his wife after her unscheduled landing and reported everyone was "fine" when speaking to the Fox Business Network.

"They came back. She got in another plane. I said, 'I hope this plane's better than the first one,' " the president said of their conversation.

Trump landed in Philadelphia for an event on opioid addiction, part of her Be Best initiative, and deplaned at 10:48 a.m., according to a pool report. She visited Thomas Jefferson University Hospital for, among other activities, face time with families dealing with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS).

After being introduced by Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, Trump gave opening remarks at a meeting put on by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. In her speech, Trump apologized for her lateness, according to a pool report.

"Good morning. I am sorry for the delay," she reportedly began. "It is good to be with all of you."

Trump added, "There are few things harder to bear than seeing a newborn suffer, and I'm anxious to do all that I can to help shine a light on this epidemic."

Posted!

A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.

First lady Melania Trump, like the former fashion model she is, knew how to pose when she visited Egypt's Giza Pyramids on Oct. 6, 2018, during the final stop of her week-long trip through four countries in Africa. SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

First lady Melania Trump would rather the media pay attention to what she does, not what she wears. But it's hard to resist a combo picture of some of her looks during her just-completed week-long tour of four Afircan countries, including Kenya, Ghana, Malawi and Egypt. SAUL LOEB/ AFP/Getty Images

The big Africa surprise: First lady Melania Trump did a mini-press conference just before she visited the Sphinx and the Pyramids in Egypt, telling reporters she sometimes disagrees with President Trump's tweets, that she has told him to put down his phone, and that her work as FLOTUS is more important than what she's wearing. SAUL LOEB/ AFP/Getty Images

First lady Melania Trump, the most enigmatic FLOTUS in decades, posed in front of the ancient statue of the Sphinx, the most enigmatic of all Egyptian monuments, on Oct. 6, 2018, as she wrapped up her week-long tour of four African countries. Nariman El-Mofty/ AP

She held onto her hat while posing in front of the Giza Pyramids. Her outfit, featuring wide-legged cream pants, a white blouse with a black narrow tie at the neck, and a tan safari jacket over her shoulders, plus a cream boater with black trim, was mocked on social media; some people drew comparisons to Michael Jackson and more. KHALED ELFIQI/ EPA-EFE

First lady Melania Trump left Nairobi on Oct. 6, 2018, headed to Cairo, the final stop on her week-long trip through four countries in Africa. She wore an olive green shirt dress with a caramel pattern of African animals such as elephants and zebras, plus caramel suede spike heels. SAUL LOEB/ AFP/Getty Images

On Day 4 of her tour of Africa, first lady Melania Trump visited the Nest Children's Home Orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya. She dressed in a white button-down shirt and jodhpurs, which she tucked into brown riding boots. SAUL LOEB, AFP/Getty Images

She visited the Nairobi National Park in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday. She wore a white pith helmet during the safari, which was criticized on social media as too reminiscent of Africa's colonial past. Carolyn Kaster, AP

Trump and Kenyatta, right, also got in some face time with baby elephants at the David Sheldrick Elephant & Rhino Orphanage in Nairobi National Park. They were given a tour by Sheldrick's daughter Angela (center), who now runs the sanctuary. Carolyn Kaster, AP

After returning from the safari, Trump changed into a yellow and white dress and white flats for a photo opp with Kenyan first lady Margaret Kenyatta (wife of president Uhuru Kenyatta) outside Nairobi's State House, the couple's official residence. Carolyn Kaster, AP

First lady Melania Trump arrived at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi on Oct. 4, 2018, at the end of Day 3 of her tour of Africa. She will spend Day 4 in Kenya where she is scheduled to visit baby elephants, go on safari, visit an orphanage and take in a local play. SAUL LOEB, AFP/Getty Images

First lady Melania Trump was greeted by a flower girl and Margaret Kenyatta, Kenya's first lady, on arrival in Nairobi. She was wearing her third outfit of a long Day 3 in Africa, a floral-on-white dress with a yellow belt and yellow spike heels. Carolyn Kaster/ AP

First lady Melania Trump touches down at Malawi's Lilongwe International Airport on Day 3 of her African tour. She wore a khaki shirt dress and brown spike heels, which she later exchanged for lizard-print flats. Carolyn Kaster/AP

During her visit to Chipala Primary School, first lady Melania Trump toured classrooms and sat in on English classes, occasionally sitting with students to help them with their lessons. Carolyn Kaster, AP

In a somewhat unusual sartorial choice for first lady Melania Trump, who rarely wears any shoe between a stiletto or casual sneaker, she sported snakeskin loafers for her visit to the school, where she read with children. Carolyn Kaster/ AP

First lady Melania Trump's second day of her Africa tour was spent exploring Cape Coast Castle, the "slave castle" used in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. She walked along a wall to look into a dungeon door at the castle in Cape Coast, Ghana, Oct. 3, 2018. Carolyn Kaster/AP

First lady Melania Trump places a wreath at one of the dungeon doors at Cape Coast Castle in Cape Coast, Ghana. She also signed the guestbook, and told reporters her visit to the fortress was "very emotional." Carolyn Kaster/AP

First lady Melania Trump's Africa trip has already featured familiar images of her affectionately interacting with children, as when she hugged a young girl on arrival at the Emintsimadze Palace in Cape Coast, Ghana, on Oct. 3, 2018. Trump wore an olive-green jacket, tan cropped pants and chocolate brown stilettos, exchanged for flats for walking along cobblestone paths. SAUL LOEB/ AFP/Getty Images

The first ladies pose outside Jubilee House, home to Akufo-Addo and her husband, Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo. Both first ladies have held their positions since January 2017. SAUL LOEB, AFP/Getty Images

The first lady prepared for her Africa trip by hosting a reception at the United States mission to the United Nations, for spouses of international leaders attending the annual General Assembly, on Sept. 26, 2018, in New York. Jason DeCrow/ AP

Melania Trump is only the latest first lady to visit Africa. Then-first lady Michelle Obama met with Peace Corps members about 45 miles from the capital city Monrovia, Liberia, on June 27, 2016. She visited a leadership camp for girls on the first stop in her latest trip to Africa. Abbas Dulleh/AP

In June 2011, Michelle Obama comforted a woman overcome with emotion as she greeted her at a multi-generational women leaders luncheon at the Sanitas Tea Garden in Gaborone, Botswana. Charles Dharapak/ AP

In June 2007, then-first lady Laura Bush was in Maputo, Mozambique, where she announced $507 million in assistance for Mozambique to build roads and boost its battle with malaria, then killing about 150 Mozambicans each day. THEMBA HADEBE/AP

In March 1997, then-first lady Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea looked out from "the door of no return" on Goree Island in Dakar, Senegal. It's the door through which more than 60,000 Africans walked before being shipped to the west as slaves. Clinton was on the first day of her two-week goodwill tour through Africa. Doug Mills/ AP